Breech-loading fire-arm



A R e Eh P Dug mm d a .0 PL 3% e Patented Nov. 2,1880.

(QM'HI M UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGEO HENRY F. WHEELER, OF BOSTON, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN P. LOVELL, OF WEYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS.

BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 233,901, dated November 2, 1880.

Application filed February 2, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY F. WHEELER, of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Breech-Loading Guns, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates to breech loading guns, and has for its object such a construction of the parts as to prevent the hammer from being raised when the barrel is nearly in firingposition, or until after the barrel of the gun has been locked by the locking device, which holds it securely in proper firing position in the breech-frame.

My invention consists, essentially, in the employment, with a barrel-locking device, of a hammercontrolling device, which is made movable by or through, and in unison with, the said barrel-locking device, and which is so located with relation to the hammer that the latter cannot be raised when the barrel-locking device is partially thrown backward, as it would be were the barrel almost in position to be locked and held positively in position for firing.

In a gun containing this my invention there is no possibility of exploding the cartridge by the firing-pin until the barrel is thoroughly locked, and accident from such cause, not now infrequent, cannot happen.

The hammer-controlling device is herein shown as a lever provided with an irregular slot in which the hammer moves, the said lever having its fulcrum substantially in line with the line of movement of the firing-pin and the hammer. Such location of the hammer-controller adds greatly to the compactness of the gun, the simplicity of its parts, cheapness of construction, and directness'of action.

Figure 1 represents, in side elevation, the metal frame of a gun containing my improvements, the barrel and stock being omitted Fig. 2 a, top view thereof, the hammer being in section 5 and Fig. 3, a detail of the barrellocking device and the connection between it and the hammer-controller.

The metal frame a, connected breech-block b, hammer 0, spring (I, trigger e, guard f, and pivot or bolt 9, upon which the usual gun-barrel is pivoted at its lower side, are all as usual. When the rear of the barrel is thrown down into the space it to be placed in firing position it first acts upon and moves backward the barrel-locking device 2', shown as a boltacted upon by a spring, j, which keeps it thrown forward, and moves the said bolt backward, and holds it back until the recess made in the barrel to receive the said bolt is brought opposite the said bolt, when the springj throws it forward into the bolt-receiving recess in the barrel, which then locks the barrel securely in firing position. This bolt and the recess prepared for it in the barrel are not new.

I have provided the barrel-locking device with a pin or projection, 2, to enter a slot in the pivoted arm or lever it, having a hub, 3, mounted in the frame a, (see Fig. 1,) with which, as herein shown, the hammercontrolling device lis connected by the screw 4, making the lever 70 and device Z practically as one piece, so that as the locking devicei is moved the hammer-controlling device is also moved and'made to occupy a position more or less out of the line of movement of the hammer about its center 5.

It will be noticed that the hammer-controlling device I has its pivot in line with the direction of movement of the hammer, and in line with the nipple m, in which is placed and held the centrally-located firin g-pin, (shown in dotted lines,) it being provided, as usual, with a spring to move it backward when the hammer is lifted. The hammer-controller has an opening made in it, which, at one side, is long and straight, as at 6, while at its other side is a curved recess, 7, forming a corner or stop, 8. When the locking device is in its most forward position, as it will be when the barrel is locked in firing position, the hammer-controller occupies the position shown in full lines, and the hammer may be freely moved along the straight part 6 of the slot therein; but if the bolt is partly thrown or held back, the hamficiently long to be used as a lever to move the bolt 2' forward and backward positively, when desired, and cause it to enter the usual recess prepared for it in the barrel, provided (from dust, &c.,'in the space h) the barrel should be obstructed so that it did not descend quite low enough to let the bolt i fully enter the recess in the barrel, as described.

I do not desire to limit my intention to a hammer controlling device shaped just as shown, or locatedjust as shown, at the top or the center of the frame a, for it will be obvious to anyone skilled in the art that the shape of the hairliner-controller could be variously modified and changed in position, and yet be so placed, through its connection with the locking device 1 as to be moved by it to occupy a position to permit the hammer to be raised or prevent it being raised. It the bolt t should be almost in position in the recess made for it in the barrel, the hammer, on being raised, will act upon the extreme corner b of the hammercontroller, and will turn the same sufliciently to move the bolt fully forward.

It is old to make a breech-loading gun having a longitudinally-sliding barrel provided with an aligned locking or clamping lever operated by the cocking of the hammer to in sure the closing of the breech. This forms no part of my invention, since the barrel-locking bolt in my invention is separate from but jointed to its operatinghammer-controller, and such hammer-controller absolutely prevents the fall or dropping of the hammer, whereas before the hammer could be cooked and dropped at will irrespective of the position of the breech looking or clamping device.

I claim l. The combination of a barrellocking bolt, i, a hammer and a hammer-controlling lever, l, slotted as shown, and arranged to be operated by or in unison with the said bolt and the hammer, the said lever preventing the lifting of the hammer while the locking-bolt is thrown or held back from proper engagement with the barrel, substantially as described.

2. In a breech-loading gun, the combination, with the hammer, the barrel-locking bolt, its spring,arm 7c, and its hub 3, of the connected lever l, slotted longitudinally and recessed, laterally and provided with a shoulder, 8, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY F. WHEELER.

Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, N. E. O. WHITNEY. 

